Tag Archives: Student Affairs

My first solo data sort, and a foray into #saass

I did it. I doubted myself, I doubted my abilities, and my brain to be able to complete it. But I did it. And I only broke out into nervous hives once over it.

Ready for it? I completed my first solo qualitative data sort. I know this may seem elementary for a lot of people, but its a pretty big deal for me. I have participated before, but never done it on my own. I used a method that involved a lot of index cards, but I am very happy with my results. If you have not fallen asleep from boredom, allow me to elaborate. But I must first start with some background.

I am currently serving as the Director of the North Engagement Center at Michigan State. In it, I am a part of the Neighborhoods initiative (check out some background information here), which is focused on increasing Retention, Persistence, and Academic Success for our student population. One of our major roles is to work with first year students that end up on academic probation after their first semester (receive less than a 2.0 overall grade point average). My role is to coordinate our outreach and intervention strategy, and work with our campus partners to reach students.

Still with me? Anyone falling asleep yet?

Our first step was to make sure students on probation were seeing their academic advisor prior to the deadline to complete a success plan. In order to do that, we mobilized our live-in student staff to reach out to students and make sure they were aware of their status, and then try to determine what factors caused them to end up on academic probation in the first place. We could not have done this process without our student staff members, and they got us some great information.

What we ended up with was a spreadsheet with lots of information on it, and I wasn’t really sure what to do with it from there. Then I remembered a data sort method I used at Texas A&M involving ideas on index cards, and then grouping them by common themes to develop categories. I figured this was as good a method as any I could think of right now, and started organizing myself. We ended up having 66 respondents, so I took their reasons, and put them on cards. Some students had more than one reason they attributed their academic performance to, so I split them up and each unique idea got a separate card. When the cards settled, I ended up with 98 reasons this cohort of students ended up on probation.

At this point, I think it is important to know that my statistics class in graduate school was based mostly around how to manipulate SPSS, and involved a professor who wore cargo shorts and shiny shirts. The shorts and shirt are the most that I remember from that class, so even getting to this step was a major step for me.

From there, I read each reason (again), and started grouping them together by theme. After reading each one, I ended up with this:

18 different stacks of cards. Some of them were light, some were heavy. I decided to take a second look, and ended up combining some, and sorting a few more out. At the end, I finished with 14 different themes. From there, I labeled each one, and counted the frequency of each response. From the back of my mind, I seemed to remember something from my statistics class involving frequency, and showing it, and then the term histogram popped into my head.

“YES, I NEED A HISTOGRAM!! I WILL HISTOGRAM THE CRAP OUT OF THIS DATA!!!”

So that is what I did. I found some great information, and I will speculate about what it means, and what it can tell us in a later post, but wanted to share the process before the analysis afterwards today while it was still fresh in my mind. At the end, was it super involved, not really, but I do have to admit, I am pretty proud of getting this far. Now, the big step is what we do with it.

What methods are effective for you in sorting qualitative data? What would this data suggest to you?

PS: @lmendersby, I thought about writing the post, and then I did

Hyper-Masculinity as an Entry to Gender Exploration

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As a lot of people that are in student affairs, I am at the #NASPA12 conference this week in Phoenix, AZ. I had the amazing opportunity before the actual conference started to participate in one of the pre-conference workshops sponsored by the Men and Masculinities Knowledge Community. I had never done a pre-con before, but I think I am hooked and will try to do more in the future, and maybe even present one at some point. It was a great opportunity to dive into a topic area and get the ins and outs of the research, discussion, and ideas surrounding Creating and Sustaining Men’s Groups on Campus. There was a great group of scholars and practitioners there to share their knowledge. The things I learned there, and the takeaways are still running through my head. I think this will probably be the first of many posts on masculinity coming up on tomLfritz.com, so I hope you enjoy this topic as much as I do.

Hyper-masculinity. The concept was new to me as I heard it in the pre-con. It basically means that at times, males will exhibit strongly stereotypical traits in order to show the world that he is a man. It’s the idea that guys only get together, get in fights, eat bacon, and look for women. The concept got me thinking, how often do we use hyper-masculinity as a program topic or draw to start the discussion around gender identity and expression? How many have seen, or approved, a program where a male RA will host a Halo Tournament, or steak BBQ, or football party, and then once they are there, start a discussion about alternate views of masculinity? I know I have seen this before.

And it isn’t always bad. We get the macho guys and ones that would normally not come to programs out and talking about healthy ways to “be a man” that don’t involve punching things, or people, and they have some fun. Let’s face it, promoting a program on masculine identity called “come out and break stereotypes by talking about your feelings” doesn’t have the same ring to it. I have seen several times when these programs have been very successful, and the conversation has been eye opening. But there is a problem with making this your soul point of entry into the topic.

The only people that show up are the ones that express themselves that way already. There are plenty of men who are into theater, or singing, or all sorts of other things, and wouldn’t be drawn into a program where you watch football, play video games, eat steaks and cook bacon. These are the men that would bring an entire new dimension to the conversation.

Does this mean you should not approve any bacon programs, or game watches, or other hyper-masculine programs? No, it doesn’t mean that at all. But, if you have a student that is interested in encouraging discussions around gender identity and expression, challenge them to allow for more than one point of entry. Hyper-masculinity can be one entry, but cannot be the only one.

How are you working with students, or what strategies have you used that have been successful in talking about gender expression?

It is “We Are”, not “He Is”

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I woke up this morning as I usually do, turned on my TV, and flipped between my news anchor girlfriend Robin Meade and Sports Center. When I got to the update of what happened in Happy Valley last night, I was appalled to see how a few students chose to express their unhappiness about Joe Pa’s treatment. The reporters in State College had the chance to talk to a few students, and their words upset me greatly. As I was in the shower, a phrase kept popping into my head, over and over again:

Being the face of an institution doesn’t give you more leniency, it holds you to a higher standard.

A few students were saying things like, “he did what he was legally required to do”, “we owe him more than this”, or the one that I will address specifically, “he made a mistake”. Joe Pa didn’t make a mistake; he made a decision to only do what was legally required of him, and left it at that. For a person that constantly demanded as close to perfection from his players, and challenged them to live ethical lives on and off the field, he did not follow that in this decision. He has himself admitted that he should have done more, and could have done more. And that decision led to a predator being able to walk free for an additional 8 years. That is the saddest part about this entire tragedy. As my friend Nikki Rudolph said in this post, that is the real issue here, that we cannot forget about.

Joe Pa is the face of Penn State, not just its sports, but to a large degree the entire institution. He is an ambassador to the institution every time he is shown on a Saturday afternoon leading his team on the field, or makes a statement to the press, or talks to a potential athlete. When people think of Joe Paterno, they think of Penn State, not just its Football team, and because of that, he needs to be someone that the institution would be proud to be associated with. I can say that if anyone worked for me that witnessed these horrendous acts, saw that nothing was being done, and was able to look at himself or herself in the mirror saying “I don’t know what happened, but I did what was legally required of me”, they would not be working for me for long.

In my opinion, the Board of Trustees made a tough decision, but they made the right one, and I would challenge people that are upset and outraged by this to ask yourself this question; Would you be as upset about this decision if it was any other person? I will not argue that Joe Pa did not do excellent things for the institution, I don’t think anyone will. However, the fact remains that as the public face of an institution, you are (or should be) held to a higher standard. You took on that responsibility when you became that face. I am reminded of the argument that Charles Barkley used to make saying that he didn’t ask to be a role model, and his behavior should not be held up on a pedestal, he is just a regular person. I don’t think that argument held water then, and I do not think it holds water now.

Penn State will continue to be a great institution of higher learning. Their football team will continue to have winning seasons. The chant will continue to be “We are… PENN STATE”, and I applaud the decision of the Board of Trustees. In this decision, they said that the reputation and respect of all of our current students, alumni, and fans all across the world is more important to us than any single person.

And please, throughout all of this, do not forget what the real tragedy is, and who the real villain is. It is not the Board of Trustees and their decision to get rid of Joe Pa, it is Jerry Sandusky and his immoral and illegal actions.

A Small School Boy, Living in a Big School World

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This Friday is College Colors Day, which is a day where people all across the world are encouraged to support their school by wearing the colors no matter where they are. It tends to be bigger at schools that have strong athletic programs, and I don’t think it is a coincidence that it falls on the kickoff weekend for College Football. Regardless, it is cool to think about the potential of having every single former and current student around the world showing support for their school.

Like many people in student affairs, I have different schools that I could potentially support on Friday. My MS is from Florida State University, and I currently work at Texas A&M University, both schools with strong athletic programs, easily recognizable colors, and enrollments of over 40,000. However, this Friday, I will be wearing a different set of colors; Blue and Gold. My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor’s of Science in Economics from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, enrollment of about 5,000 undergraduates when I was there.

Now, I am prepared to answer several questions about the colors I am wearing on Friday, or not even be recognized as wearing my school colors, but that will not stop me. I was raised in a small school. Being at a small school allowed me to be involved in several different organizations, and get to know my administrators and professors better. I was invited over to my economics professor’s house after graduating, and was able to develop a strong relationship with several of them. Those administrators assisted me in some of my darker times in school; when my fraternity brother was killed, when I lost my scholarship, break ups, make ups, etc. I know have the fortune of calling those administrators my friends and enjoy interacting with them as professionals at conferences or online. I wouldn’t change my experience for anything, and often can’t imagine my four years of undergraduate at a larger school.

I will proudly be sporting the Bobcat Blue and Gold this Friday because being a small school boy in a big school world allows me a unique opportunity; I get to serve as an ambassador for Quinnipiac University to most of those who ask me. I get to tell them about our new medical school that has state of the art facilities. I get to tell them about our world famous polling institute that gets mentioned almost daily during election years. I get to tell them about our Albert Schweitzer institute, which has several Nobel laureates on its Board of Directors and created an immensely strong partnership between a small private school in the Northeast and a poor community in Nicaragua that adds value to both places. But most importantly, I get to use those lessons I learned on a daily basis in the shadow of Sleeping Giant Mountain when serving my own students in this “big school world”.

Throughout my career, I will work at many different institutions. Some may be big, others may be small. Some public, others private. But the one thing that I will always remember is that I was raised in that small school in Southern Connecticut, and that I should always work to let others know the amazing experience I had there. Some people are big school people, others are small school people. After working or attending three, I can say that at this point, I am just a school person. Its not the number of students, its the number of caring professionals that those students get to interact with. That is what will make the difference in their lives, and maybe a few years down the road, they will write a blog post about how much those interactions had meant to him.

So if you are like I am, and went to a small school for undergraduate, but a bigger school for your Master’s degree or work at a bigger school, I challenge you to wear your small school colors this Friday, and take the chance to be an ambassador for your school.

Are you a big school or small school person, and how has either shaped who you are today?

Inclusivity: You are what you eat

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First off, I am feeling slightly guilty that I have so neglected you poor blog (and readers) this summer. I figured I would have the time to write several times a week while I was in the lazy days of summer. Needless to say, my first summer as a full time professional hasn’t really looked like Ferris Bueler’s Day Off. But, I am back, and I am setting the goal of writing at least once every other week once I get through training and opening (aka, through August).

But, I would like to start this new season on tomLfritz.com with a different view on a topic that we talk about a lot; being inclusive.

I was recently asked by my doctor to take this blood test called a Blood Print test. Apparently she thought that some of the issues I have been having recently came from food sensitivities that I had previously not known about. I took it, and, surprise surprise, I am now reactive to over 30 different foods. Among these are baker’s yeast, wheat, cow’s milk, eggs, and most of the other foods that I enjoy on a daily basis (I am also allergic to brewer’s yeast, malt, and barley. Anyone want to guess what those three things help make?). I have been encouraged to follow a gluten-free, lactose-free, and, in my opinion, taste-free, diet. I am trying to ease off on the foods that trigger reactions in me, but find it very difficult to cut it out all together.

I promise you, there is a point coming soon.

As many of us are gearing up for the start of the semester, you may have trainings, kick off meetings, welcome back dinners, and events that are going to have food at them. I am serving on our RA training committee, and have been listening in on the menus for the meals we are providing, see if these sound familiar; box lunches with sandwiches, lasagna, chicken parm, burgers and hot dogs, pizza. Anyone know what these all have in common? They all contain gluten, lactose, and tend to be very high in calories for those of us that are keeping on with the #sa11fit community. Now we are offering students that identify with different dietary needs the option for a separate meal, and I have pushed for these meals to be more than a plate of grilled veggies or the salad that comes with the lasagna.

We tend to look for mass appeal when we pick meals for students and staff, things that are cheap and things that a majority of people like. And I am not saying thats not the best way to go. I just encourage everyone to think about those underrepresented people that maybe have food allergies that are going through training. Providing all gluten free meals and lactose free meals will be very costly, and some people just would not approve. If you are going to provide options to self-disclose dietary needs, make sure they are worthy options.

Finally, I would also say to make sure you take into account things other than dietary restrictions focused around health. For instance, if you have staff or students that practice Islam, during the month of Ramadan, which tends to be over the time of opening and trainings, they are expected to fast during daylight hours, which is when most of us tend to train. Having a staff member that fasted for his faith last year taught me that doing physical activities late in the day could cause him to be lightheaded or weak. There are also students that follow halal, or kosher, or other things that are too numerous to mention.

I don’t mean to seem preachy, just hoping to provide some food for thought (pardon the pun). Remember, when thinking about food for trainings and meetings, being inclusive sometimes means eating outside of the box.

You want to conceal and carry what on campus?

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For those of you that don’t know, I am currently employed by Texas A&M University, which is, of course, in Texas. What some of you may not know is that Texas is one of a few states that is currently looking at a law allowing residents to carry concealed weapons, including handguns. It is being debated in the legislature as we speak. This will potentially mean that all residents over the age of 21 are eligible to go through a background check, qualify on a range, and go through a safety course which concludes with their ability to carry a weapon in college buildings. This is different from the current law, which allows students to carry them on the campus but not indoors. The new law would prevent them from being carried in bars and at sporting events (at least in its current iteration). There has been some interest in addressing the issue of guns being stored in residence hall rooms, but the final details of the bill are still being worked on.

A lot of people are talking about the safety of our students and what happens if there is an active shooter situation, in which the emergency responders are looking for anyone not in a uniform with a weapon. I understand all of these points, but for this post, I want to focus in a different direction. I want to talk about teaching civility, education, and discourse in a land where students carry guns.

First off, I am not the type of person who believes that if this bill passes, students are going to start shooting them into the air to celebrate getting an A on a test or resolve roommate conflicts by shooting one another in the foot. I do, however, think that adding a weapon into an equation changes the dynamic of a lot of things. For instance, do you think that the same level of disagreement will happen over one roommate being a night owl and the other being an early riser if one roommate has a gun on the desk? Violence isn’t inevitable, but can act as a deterrent to certain disagreements. What about heated issues in a classroom? Will those be able to happen with the hidden wonder if a student is armed? I would hope so, but am not positive.

The other thing that is worth considering is what about our student staff that has to confront situations? I am thinking about my RA staff, when they are on duty, they are often asked to address situations of alcohol, noise, or general shenanigans that occur in the building. How do we support them if they are walking into a room that may or may not have armed and drunk residents in it? Do we have police come in for all confrontations now, or do we train and arm the RA’s?

Overall, I think my main concern with this bill is the number of questions it leaves un-answered and the challenges it presents to student affairs administrators in writing policy and doing our job in an environment with armed students. Maybe we should be taking some extra time and exploring these questions before we jump in and try to learn on the fly, because in my opinion, trying to figure it out when the cost of a mistake is a student life is not worth it. If we do explore and come back to the same law, then at least we have taken the time to figure it out.

I would love to get some discourse going on this topic in the comments section. What are your opinions on the topic, and how do you think student affairs divisions should be responding to this?

It is My Honor…

My Changing Twitter Perspective

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When I was in Philadelphia for NASPA, I hit my 3000^th tweet. I know it is not as many as some people out there, but it was a pretty big milestone for me. I look back on where I was when I started using Twitter, and where I am now. I started it as a way where I could be honest and vent a bit about what upset me about life, our profession, students, and things like that. Most of the people I followed were celebrities, athletes, and musicians, and I was ok with that. I didn’t want to be ground breaking, I didn’t want to be RT’d by hundreds of people, I just wanted to have a place to make casual observations that (I thought) were funny.

As I began to mature as a professional (and a person), I began to see the true value in Twitter. I slowly began unfollowing people who didn’t provide me with value. If I wasn’t learning from them, I wasn’t following them. My home feed was starting to be filled with nuggets from @JPKirchmeier, @EricStoller, @TBump, @BrianFLeDuc, @torrybruce and too many others who I have had the great opportunity to interact with in 140 characters or less (133 when you use the #sachat tag). I have found that my home feed on Thursdays at Noon looks a lot like the #sachat feed on my HootSuite with an occasional ESPN update thrown in.

And I love it. Each person, whether I have had dialogue with them directly or not, has helped shape me as a professional and a person. I use Twitter because it allows us to see a full 360 degree view of people, their professional and personal lives. We can see how someone feels about the budget cuts affecting higher education, and then what they are cooking for dinner that night later, showing us our own need for balance between our professional and personal lives.

This past week I was fortunate enough to meet several of the people I have only connected with through Twitter IRL (In Real Life). I was having coffee with one of them, and she asked me how my conference is going. I told her it was just so amazing, the conversations and interactions have been more incredible than I could have hoped for and ever experienced. She asked me what the “Game Changer” was, and I said, it is Twitter. It is knowing someone without knowing them, looking at a person’s avatar on your phone when you think you see them in the lobby, and knowing that you won’t have to make a cold approach to someone that you admire.

I would consider myself an extrovert, but I still have problems going up and making the first introduction. I think it comes down to what @TBump told me is the “I’m just a…” mentality. “I’m just a new professional, I’m just a Hall Director, I’m just a graduate student”. As she put it, she’s never been a “I’m just a…” in her whole life. Twitter breaks that down. I was able to connect with other people, not positions, and understand how they really felt and what they thought, before I realized that I was talking with VPSA’s, Directors of Housing, or other SSAO’s.

So, in closing, I am so happy I found this community, that I changed from a twitter paparazzi to a student affairs social media user, and that I can take the next step, and set up in face (or Skype) conversations with people to share ideas and get to that next intellectual level.

Have you changed how you use social media? How has it “changed your game”?

Today, I feel like a professional

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I woke up today and a strange feeling came over me. It was something unlike anything I have ever felt before. At first, I didn’t even realize what it was, and was mostly confused. I started to explore internally, and realized what it was; Today, I feel like a Professional.

I have mentioned on here before that I am a first year hall director, fresh out of grad school, and will celebrate my 7 month anniversary here at A&M next week. For nearly 7 months, I have had the title of a professional, been treated like a professional by my peers and supervisors, and been seen as a professional to my students. However, I didn’t believe it myself, I hadn’t internalized it. Sure, I enjoyed the bigger paycheck, and this strange thing called health insurance, but a student affairs professional is not made by their paycheck (thankfully).

I think back to where I was a year ago, and was nervous about making the transition from student to professional. I remember asking in my Capstone course how to make that transition easier. We read books, talked about the transition, looked at our own development and needs to try and make that transition easier. I had great faculty for that class and really set me up to be able to handle the transition (Thank you Dr. Guthrie and Dr. Ward-Roof), but able to handle, and making the transition are two very different things. I look back, and learned more about my values, the type of environment I would work better in, and big mistakes not to make right away, and all of those things made this morning possible.

Little did I know that a year later, I would be sitting at my desk, drinking coffee and completing my weekly key report when a switch would click and I would consider myself a professional. However, now that I have had time to reflect back on it (a few hours at least), it was a gradual process. It could also be that a task that scared the living daylights out of me back in August (key reports), seemed routine and normal this morning. I guess that is what they call on the job training and learning.

If you happen to be a graduate student reading this with the same anxiety I had last year, how am I going to be a professional, don’t worry, some day you will have the same feeling. Take the time to set yourself up and provide the skills to ease the transition, but be ok knowing you may feel like a full time graduate assistant in the beginning of your job; I know I did. Start dressing as you will need to dress as a professional a few days a week. Attempt to start your office hours at 8 or 9 AM. Observe the professionals in your office to see how they carry themselves.

If you supervise a graduate student who is graduating in May, start to give them ideas of what professional life looks like. Invite them to division meetings. Talk to them about budget issues. Recall the beginning of your professional journey and try to answer the questions you had. Your grad will thank you for it in the long run.

At some point, everyone has the same moment of clarity, and the more you prepare, the less you will notice it when it comes. One day you will realize that what you have been doing since grad school is the very thing that defines you as a professional. You never know, it may be over coffee and keys for you as well.

Grads, what are you doing to prepare yourself for professional life?

Professionals, when did you have your moment of clarity, and what helped you get there?

What Greek Life has Taught Me